PRESSURE ON UK GOVERNMENT TO SCRAP CLIMATE TARGETS

This piece looks at the situation regarding the Climate Change Act's emission reduction targets, and how some members of the government are now beginning to realise that the EU (and the rest of the world) are not following the UK's example - leaving the UK saddled with hopelessly unrealistic targets which, if met, would lead to financial suicide.  However there are still some who refuse to admit to what is now beginning to be obvious, and still trying to cling to the purity of the Act, including the Lib Dems. The real damage of the Climate Change Act was always going to bite more deeply over the passage of time. The worst is still to come over the next few years - unless they ditch it soon. This will cause the green movement to make a lot of fuss, but if it isn't done the public will soon demand it, as their energy bills go on rising and their industry moves away.

In fact my district council were urging the government to re-think this back in 2011 as This article explains.

GLACIER RETREATS TO REVEAL 400 YEAR OLD WOODLAND

This piece explains how a retreating glacier has revealed the existence of woodland about 400 years ago. In other words the climate there must have been warmer at that time, before the little ice age.

LIB DEMS ANNOUNCE THEIR NEW ENERGY POLICY

Here is an article setting out some of the policies. If you suspected they would be a bit wacky, then you're not far wrong. Surely these policies will keep them out of power. Unfortunately in today's crazy politics this may not be the case. The lunatics are quite possibly going to be partly in charge. 

LOOK AT HOW LITTLE WIND FARMS REALLY PRODUCE

This article in the Telegraph looks at what some wind farms actually produce, and it is a real eye-opener, showing just how unreliable wind energy can be in practice. I hope our politicians are taking note. If the lights do go out, whoever is in power will get the blame.

ESTONIA ALREADY ENERGY INDEPENDENT ON SHALE GAS

This report from the Telegraph goes into details of how the Baltic state has gone ahead with customary zeal. Their situation is a fait accompli, and they will not be shackled by the the EU, of which they are a member, though their extraction does not involve fracking as the article explains. Compare Estonia's attitude with that of the UK, which already appears hide-bound in red tape, some home-grown, but much emanating from the EU - see yesterday's post below. 

EU SEEMS TO BE SET TO STOP SHALE GAS FRACKING

This article in the Sunday Telegraph from Christopher Booker looks at the inner working of the EU. If true, and there is no reason to doubt it, it is yet another reason for us to leave this bureaucratic institution.

WILL UK ENERGY POLICY MEAN GOODBYE TO THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY?

This piece looks at a new report by the Tyndall Centre, which basically says that the chemical industry in the UK will struggle to survive. Yet it makes no sensible recommendations to save it. This is a government funded organisation that seems to be a waste of money.

DAILY MAIL REPORTS IPCC LEAKED DOCUMENT GIVES 95% CERTAINTY OF AGW

Here is the Mail's report which contains good coverage of the new uncertainty over the lack of warming over the past 16 years. As this gets repeated over and over to an ever wider audience it can only lead to increased scepticism of the whole global warming CO2 hypothesis. 

PROTESTORS QUIT BALCOMBE DRILLING SITE

This piece in the Mail gives the latest update on the attempts by green activists to halt drilling at the exploratory site near Balcombe in South England. Extraordinarily, the protestors, who a few days ago were claiming success as the drilling was stopped by the police over safety fears. However after the police finally got tough with the protestors and arrested a few dozen, the whole thing has turned around. It appears that these protestors don't have the stomach for a real fight. When the going got tough the protestors got going (home).

IPCC CLAIM 95% CONFIDENCE IN AGW, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

This article looks into the scientific meaning of "95% confidence", and surprisingly this level is far from being as strong as a layman might think. Most of the general public would conclude that 95% was extremely high - up from 90% in the previous IPCC report. However in the article in the link you can see that in fact it is a weak level. Obviously this is not something that the IPCC want to become widely known, but it is deception by the IPCC.  

OCEAN TEMPERATURES - AN OVERVIEW

Here is an excellent and very readable overview of the issue of ocean temperature changes. Climate alarmists often try to persuade us that though the surface temperature of the Earth has stopped warming, the heat has instead been going into the oceans. This hypothesis is discussed fully in the article. 

LATEST DATA SUGGEST THE ARCTIC MAY BE COOLING

This article gives the latest sea-ice extent in the Arctic and it shows that at this stage in the year the ice cover is well above the area of recent years.

UK FRACKING IN ACTION FOR PAST 50 YEARS

This article in the Mail on Sunday looks at a well in Nottingham which has been fracked for around 50 years with no complaints from the local residents and no adverse effect on the environment. 

GREEN ACTIVISTS BRING DRILLING TO A HALT AT BALCOMBE

This piece from the Daily Mail rightly criticises the police for not standing firm against green activists who threatened direct action against the firm drilling a test well near Balcombe in the South of England. While I would not want us to descend into the heavy-handed reaction of the Egyptian military I do think we should be prepared to control numbers of protestors descending on Balcombe. For god's sake this is simple common sense.  

NEW IPCC REPORT 95% CERTAIN OF AGW

This report takes a peek at the report, due out in September. It looks as though the alarmists are getting increasingly desperate, putting forward a whole raft of excuses as to why the warming has stalled. It looks to me that they have far less confidence than they are ready to admit. I am sure that once the report is out it will rapidly unravel as sceptics pick over it like carnivorous beasts at a dead antelope.  

CHURCH OF ENGLAND FLIRTS WITH FRACKING

This article looks at the way the C of E is asserting its ancient mineral rights to try to cash in on the shale gas beneath much of its historic land holdings. Some might say they were 'supping with the devil'.

CAN THE OCEANS CONTROL CLIMATE?

The following links are to four parts of a paper by a scientist called David Coe which has been put on Bishop Hill blog over recent weeks, though each part was put on separately. It is quite long and contains some maths which non-scientists, or indeed those who are not specialists in the field may omit, but this paper is a fascinating piece of work which contains some real insights into the behaviour of the oceans. The conclusions are far-reaching and if it passes peer-review would change the whole science of climate alarm.
Part one Part two Part three Part four

HOW WILL FRACKING SHALE AFFECT PRICES?

This article gives us an idea and the sums involved are very significant.

CAMERON TRIES TO CUT RED TAPE ON FRACKING

This piece in the Telegraph looks at the stages in the process set out by the Environment Agency, which could take up to 6 months to complete. If the Prime Minister is serious then he will need to act to speed up the process. He might be in a fight if he does. The "green" organisation know every trick in the book to frustrate the process, using the massive amount of legislation there is.

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT BALCOMBE?

Balcombe is the small village on the outskirts of which there is drilling for oil. The fear of some residents is that this will lead to fracking. This article looks at what is going on. In particular the way the protest has been hi-jacked by green activists. This is not just a normal protest, it is an ideological battle.

WHY THE CLIMATE MODELS ARE WRONG

This piece contains a short 12 minute lecture on the shortcomings of climate models put in a clear understandable way. The comments below it are also worth reading.

IS THE WIND CHANGING ON CLIMATE POLICY?

This article looks at the possibilities. I, of course hope it is true, but I suspect there is a lot of pressure on ministers to cling to their green policies, most of it coming from the Liberal Democrats as well as vested inerests. There is a lot of money riding on it.

IPCC CHAIRMAN EXPOSED

This article exposes the many failings of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change chairman, Rajendra Pachauri. All in all it is probably a good thing for sceptics that he is still in charge. What a publicity disaster for climate alarmism. 

BURNING TREES TO SAVE EMISSIONS - WILL IT WORK?

This BBC article looks at the issue. The conclusion seem to be that it is far from clear that emissions will actually be saved, so complex is the issue. It seems to be a case of the government meeting a target for renewables rather than thinking it through.

SPANISH GOVERNMENT TAXES THE SUN'S RAYS

Here is the article giving the details. This is the modern version of the old window tax. Have they learnt nothing? At least the UK government wouldn't do that.

DIY CLIMATE CALCULATOR - FIND OUT HOW MUCH WARMING YOU SAVE

Here is a handy calculator for you to decide how much of global warming can be averted by reducing emission of CO2 by the industrial nations. You decide hat reduction level to have and what climate sensitivity to employ. If you are a sceptic I doubt if you will be surprised by the result. So much pain for so little gain. 

CLIMATE SENSITIVITY - IS IT LOWER THAN IPCC FORECAST?

This article in the Economist looks at the evidence for lower sensitivity, which is getting stronger as the pause in warming enters a seventeenth year.

HYDRO-ELECTRIC SCHEMES KILL FISH

This piece gives the details of how thousands of new hydro-electricity schemes are being proposed for UK rivers, in order for owners to profit from the subsidies available for green energy. However there is a dark side to this superficially attractive-sounding scheme which has received little publicity so far.

THE RISE AND FALL OF ARCTIC ICE

This article looks at the change in ice cover in the Arctic since 1971, and you can see that it is not simply a decline. In fact ice was increasing year on year through the 1970's, followed by the recent decline.

TWO LORDS LOCK HORNS OVER CLIMATE CHANGE

This piece shows the correspondence between Lord Deben and Lord Ridley over the evidence for the value of climate sensitivity. What it shows is the mass of evidence produced by Ridley, a sceptic, versus the rather feeble evidence from Deben, an alarmist.  

WHAT IS THE TRUE SENSITIVITY OF THE CLIMATE?

Here is an interesting article on the subject - how much will temperature rise for a doubling of CO2? The pre-industrial level of CO2 is taken as 280ppm, so a doubling would be 560ppm. The current level is around 400ppm, so we still have some way to go. The world average rise in temperature is around 0.8 degrees Celsius. If the figure for doubling, as the article suggests, is around 2 C, then we are almost halfway there, and there is no cause for alarm. Since the relationship is a logarithmic one a second doubling, from 560ppm to 1120ppm will also only give rise to 2 C and that will take a very long time indeed.